Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1887-07-23
SELECTIONS.
. INSULT TO THE CHIEF ExEcU-
TIVE"

TIVE"
The Democratic press of the cOun-
try is stopping over with such sen.
fences as the following taken from
the Baltime San of the 9th, refer
ring to the declension of President
Cleveland to attend at st. Louis on
the occasion Of the encampment Of
the Grand Army of the Republic:
I" No body Of citizens in this country,
in fact, can have conceded to it the
privilege of insulting with impnnity
the Chief Executive of the Nation"
While it is not true that any body
of citizens has sought to insult the
Chief Executive of the Nation, in the
person of Mr.. Cleveland, it is not out
of place to refer to what a body Of
citizens with which the San and
other Democratic papers are identi-
fed has done, and the insults which
have been offered to the Chief Ex.
cutive of the Nation. Abraham Lin.
coin was legally and constitutionally
elected President of the United
States. In passing from his home
IN Illinois to the seat OF national
government to take the oath of office
and enter upon the duties which the
people, through legal forms, had
called him to discharge, it was
deemed advisable for him to pass
through Baltimore in disguise, AS q.
precautionary measure to preserve
his life. After he was inaugurated,
he was denounced by this same
body of citizens" as an ape, an ill.
shapen, ignorant rail-splitter, unfit
for the position to which he had
been elected. Gen. Grant, after he
had taken the oath of office, was
stigmatized as a drunken sot,
brutal tyrant and a butcherer, the
associate and confidant of whisky
rings and whisky thieves. the COM
panion of unprincipled adventures
and designing conspirators against
the Republic; a despot who was
aiming to destroy the liberties of
the people. Gen. Hayes, who was
declared President by double au-
thority-first by a majority of the
legally chosen electors of the States
and by an extraordinary commission
suggested and supported by the
Democratic party in Congress-was
referred to by this same "body of
citizens" as 81 his fraudulency."
President Arthur was called the
accident of an assassination, the
chief of New York ward politicians,
and faithless public officer. who
was removed from Office because of
incompetency or corruption. Such
were some of the insults offered to
and epithets directed against the
Republican Presidents from Lincoln
to Arthur, by a " body of citizens,n
and their representative speakers
and papers, who now constitute a
part of the Democratic party.
| But what a change! Because the
members of the Grand Army of the
Republic manifested their indigna.
ton and resentment on account of
the vetoes of President Cleveland
of bills to pension old soldiers, which
the representatives of the people in
Congress had enacted, and openly
made known that they did not de-
sire to meet him on a public oc-
casion especially dedicated to that
organization, it is assumed that an
insult was offered to the e Chief
Executive of the Nation" And his
electioneering letter giving his
reason for Withdrawing his accept
ance of the invitation to attend,
heralded to the country as the EN-.
bodiment of exalted nations of Of
fetal and personal dignity and self.
respect. The elaborate manner in
which these reasons were presented
the affected concern for the
i dignity of the Executive office, and
the resentfnl spirit which character
lied them, were the artful arrange
ments of scheming politician, more
than the dignified and courtly utter
ances of the "Chief Executive of
the Nation" It makes great diff
ference with the Democratic papers
as to what is an insult to the g Chief
Executive of the Nation," if the oc-
;cupant of that high office happens